Designed by Faculty for Industry

About

Synthesis and characterization of novel hard and soft materials and composites for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications; dynamics of mechanical, chemical, and transport properties of biomaterials; evaluation and elucidation of materials interactions with biological tissues and media, and with pharmaceuticals

Applications

• Drug and biomolecule delivery
• Passive and active surface coatings for medical devices
• Pharmaceutical excipients and formulation
• Artificial tissue replacement materials
• Scaffolds for tissue engineering

Facilities

We have at our disposal state of the art equipment from both the College of Science and Engineering, the Department of Pharmaceutics, and the Academic Health Center. Polymer molecular characterization can be carried out using x-ray diffraction and scattering (SAXS and WAXS, PXRD), and light scattering (static and dynamic). PXRD can also be used to characterize polymorphism and solvation characteristics of pharmaceuticals, by themselves or in the presence of polymers. Other available molecular characterization techniques include DSC (scanning and oscillating), TGA, and Confocal Raman Microscopy. Several novel instrumentations at the Characterization Facility and the Biomedical Image Processing Laboratory are available, including cryo-SEM and cryo-TEM, cry-microtomy, AFM, profilimetry/micromechanical testing, and nanoindentation. Tissue Mechanics Lab houses the CellScale BioTester 5000 planar biaxial test system for tissues and compliant biomaterials

About

Developing liquid-applied coating process process fundamentals through experimental studies of liquid, interfacial and solidification behavior with targeted characterization tools and visualizations combined with theory, and computational methods to support the electronics, photonics, magnetics, speciality-films, and many other industries.

Coated and printed materials are vital ingredients of an enormous diversity of products from adhesives, coated papers and fabrics, printed graphics, biomedical coatings and pre-coated steel, to separation membranes, magnetic tapes and flexible electronic devices. These coatings are commonly made by depositing layers of polymer solution, liquid monomer or particulate suspension that are then solidified by drying or curing. The solidified layer is a functional coating with microstructure and properties that are essential to its use. Alternatively, the solid layer can be stripped of the substrate to make a free-standing film that functions on its own or as a layer in a laminated structure, such as a fuel cell. Similarly, printed patterns are created on substrates using processes that involve depositing liquid in small patches followed by solidification. The key technological challenges in the field of liquid-applied coatings are to achieve the desired coating properties through control of the interfaces and microstructures, and to meet the industrial requirements of an efficient manufacturing process. 

A cross-disciplinary approach to the basic challenges facing coating processes is inherently necessary. The Coating Process Fundamentals (CPF) program is unique in its scope and depth of inquiry. The program draws from extensive input from industry and the expertise of researchers in fluid mechanics; interfacial engineering; rheology; transport, thermodynamic and reaction phenomena; stress and failure analysis; colloid science; materials science and engineering; applied mathematics; and scientific computation. Individual researchers work in several disciplines themselves as well as collaborate across disciplines. Since its founding in the 1980s by the late Prof. L. E. Scriven, CPF has established a long history of research impact in the field of liquid-applied coatings. Building on this foundation, CPF researchers continue to conduct groundbreaking coatings research, and they are also applying the program fundamentals and expertise to other industrially relevant pursuits, including food and pharmaceutical processing as well as separations and porous media transport. We welcome industrial collaboration and input across a spectrum of industries. Our unique CPF Labs together with comprehensive shared facilities at the University of Minnesota provide the resources necessary for the state-of-the-art research and collaboration. 

The research environment in CPF provides scientific and technological challenges coupled with industrial interactions, which has proved superb for educating research students and translating their results into industrial impact. As of 2023, the program has educated 151 PhDs, many of whom have gone on to work at companies such as 3M, DuPont, Carestream, Arkema, Dow and Axalta Coating Systems. Strong industrial connections also arise through the IPRIME Industrial Fellows program, with CPF having hosted a total of 84 Industrial Fellows over many years from a wide range of companies. Yet another mechanism of industrial outreach is short courses: CPF has educated hundreds of industrial scientists and engineers through its Annual Coating Process Fundamentals Short Course and recently an Online Short Course on Precision Coating and Drying. 

About

The ever-increasing availability of data and computing power has led to rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning methods in a broad range of applications in cheminformatics, bioinformatics, and materials design. The 4D program aims to address the above challenges and accelerate the application of data science in industry. It provides core expertise in data analysis and data-driven discovery and design of materials and chemicals, along with collaborative opportunities across applications in chemical and biochemical engineering, and materials science.

Data generated in the fields of cheminformatics, bioinformatics and materials design can be massive or sparse, time-varying or stead, low-dimensional or high-dimensional, discrete or continuous, low-fidelity or high-fidelity, uncertain and noisy, biased and typically constrained by physical laws. Such data heterogeneity and variety present a huge challenge in the adoption of existing statistical inference and prediction methods for learning models, in the interplay between experiments and computation, and in the subsequent use of these models in process-level design and optimization. In addition, the design/exploration spaces can be vast and the descriptors needed to search these spaces are usually not known a-priori. Finally, discovery and processing have been typically addressed sequentially. Yet, the ultimate process where a new material will be used provides additional constraints for the design problem, which when accounted for, can accelerate discovery and help avoid infeasible solutions. 

The 4D program aims to address the above challenges and accelerate the application of data science in industry. It provides core expertise in data analysis and data-driven discovery and design of materials and chemicals, along with collaborative opportunities across applications in chemical and biochemical engineering and materials science. Problems of interest include data sharing and management; mechanism inference and design of complex catalytic systems; adsorbent and membrane design; discovery, characterization, and design of hard materials, nanomaterials, and biomaterials; (bio) manufacturing; protein and cell engineering and manufacturing; hybrid modeling; data-driven process optimization and control. 

About

Our team works on numerous topics that include: Modern Polymer Synthesis, State-of-the Art Polymer Characterization, Industrially relevant Polymer Processing, Research at the Intersection of Polymer Science/Engineering and Sustainability, and Advanced Polymer Processing

The next generation of polymer-based materials will rely on the incorporation of multiple components to achieve superior and tunable properties. This will require control over chemical connectivity and morphology from the nanometer up to the micron scale. Moreover, tomorrow’s materials will benefit society through not only their property profiles in advanced applications, but also in how they contribute to a sustainable materials future through a circular economy.  With this in mind, the FSP group benefits from close association with the Center for Sustainable Polymers at the University of Minnesota.

Representative Current Projects

Improved renewably resourced polymers, Polymers in ionic liquids, New polymers and copolymers to replace fluorinated materials, Drug and gene delivery materials, Controlled vesicles and wormlike micelles, Polyolefin compatibilizers, Industrially compostable polymers, Chemically recyclable polymers, Porous polymer nanostructures, Viscoelasticity of stiff chain polymers, Multilayer coextrusion and adhesion, Phase behavior of copolymer solutions, Reactive compatibilization, Phase behavior of ABC and multiblock copolymers, Inorganic/organic nanocomposites, Flow orientation of microstructures, Dynamics of polymer blends, Multiply continuous morphologies

Facilities

Polymer Characterization Facility

About

Identifying key molecular parameters and principles governing the assembly and properties of molecular thin films, surfactants, and ordered molecular phases of molecular systems for synthesis of specialty materials in agricultural, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and other businesses.

Self-assembly at the molecular and colloidal scales is crucial to the performance of many industrial systems, including detergents, foams, adhesives, paints, pharmaceuticals, sensors, catalysts, composites, and emerging electronic and optical materials. The nanostructure of the materials involved as well as the process of nanostructure development are central to the function of the system. 

Critical issues in such applications are to control the molecular and colloidal forces that govern the structure and properties of the self-assembled materials to develop insights into the mechanisms governing these processes, and to elucidate and correlate the structure and behavior of such materials (particularly ordered films and crystals). 

The researchers in this program combine experiment, theory and modeling to correlate molecular and process parameters with synthesis, phase behavior, structure, and performance of surfactants and novel self-assembled molecular and colloidal systems. The overriding goal is to enable interfacial engineers to synthesize materials which perform optimally with specified constraints. 

Critical current research topics

• Phase behavior and dynamics of surfactant and colloidal systems: Regulation of molecular and colloidal forces yields a rich variety of ordered structures which are investigated by molecular simulation and novel forms of cryo-scanning and cryo-transmission electron microscopy.
• Nanostructural chemistry and processing: Templates and hydrogen bonding interactions yields nanostructured supramolecular networks, composite materials.
• Self-assembly of molecular and colloidal films and crystals: Molecular assembly is driven epitaxially and on patterned surfaces to enable new applications in, for instance, flexible organic semiconductors and photonic materials.
• Interfacial forces, adhesion, and tribology: Films and gels, including biomolecular interfaces, are investigated with novel forms of molecular scanning probe microscopy. 

About

Innovation in materials design, processing, and characterization for applications in optoelectronics, active and passive light management, detection, and photovoltaics

Optical and optoelectronic devices play a crucial role in our information driven society; example include displays, communications links, sensing, and photoconversion. As these devices become even more ubiquitous, there are new opportunities to innovate and realize never before seen form-factors and functionality. Emerging applications in flexible and transparent displays for applications in virtual and augmented reality, or integration of semi-or fully transparent solar cells into windows for energy harvesting are just two such examples. The Optoelectronics and Metamaterials (OM) program was formed to address the multifaceted challenges that come with attempting to realize novel optoelectronic devices. We emphasize feedback between advances in materials development, device design, optical engineering (photonic/plasmonic/metamaterials), and materials processing. Our team is active across all of these areas permitting OM to have a complete perspective on the development of solutions to emerging challenges in optoelectronics. 

OM Goals

1. Develop widely-applicable structural-property-performance relationships for a range of optical materials and metamaterials. Materials of interest include organic semiconductors, colloidal quantum dots, metallic nanostructures, and metal-halide perovskites.
2. Apply the designed materials in novel optoelectronic devices for light-emission, photoconversion, photodetection, and sensing, apply novel optical nanostructures to realize further tailored functionality related to polarization, chirality, and spatial control.
3. Demonstrate scalable processing methods for materials processing and device fabrication. It is important to develop device platforms that could be amenable to economical processing. With in-house access to roll-to-roll processing, we are well-positioned to carry out small-scale demonstrations of high-throughput, large-area processing to de-risk eventual roll-out of solutions to industrial partners.